Lead Category Management - 1011

Quantinuum•Broomfield, CO

1d•$111,000 - $149,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Quantinuum is seeking a Lead Category Management professional for its Broomfield, Colorado location. This individual-contributor role serves as a trusted commercial advisor and category management subject-matter expert for high-value, high-complexity direct and indirect categories supporting advanced technical programs, government-funded research, and national laboratory relationships. The Lead owns category strategies and portfolio performance, leads complex contract negotiations, guides the category management team on contracting matters, and partners across engineering, R&D, operations, legal, finance, program management, quality, information security, and compliance to deliver resilient, compliant, and commercially sound supply solutions. The role develops and executes multi-year category strategies and end-to-end sourcing initiatives, negotiates complex supplier and subcontract agreements, and provides commercial leadership for technically complex and high-risk requirements. It also develops supplier governance and risk-management approaches, advises senior stakeholders, mentors category management professionals, and improves sourcing practices and organizational capability. Employees are expected to work at their assigned location. This role may offer the opportunity to work remotely up to two days per week, with approvals.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree minimum.
At least 8 years of experience in category management, including ownership of category strategies, spend portfolios, supplier governance, and value-delivery initiatives, with additional experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, contracts, subcontracts, or a related commercial discipline.
At least 8 years of experience leading complex, high-dollar negotiations and managing the full lifecycle of supplier agreements and subcontracts.
At least 8 years of experience sourcing technically complex products or services.
Must be a U.S. Person as defined in the posting: U.S. citizen, permanent resident or green card holder, or worker granted asylum or refugee status.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with government-funded research laboratories or similar institutions through research, user-facility, technical services, licensing, material transfer, collaboration, or other partner-specific agreement structures.
An advanced degree or professional certification such as CPSM, C.P.M., PMP, CPCM, CFCM, CSCP, or equivalent.
Strong commercial, financial, analytical, and risk-management acumen, including the ability to develop and defend executive-level recommendations.
Experience negotiating intellectual property, technical data, confidentiality, cybersecurity, export-control, research and development, publication, or technology-licensing matters.
Demonstrated category leadership in advanced manufacturing, capital equipment, laboratory equipment, engineering services, software, cloud, information technology, or other high-technology spend.
Ability to operate independently in ambiguity, challenge assumptions constructively, and influence without direct authority.
Executive communication, stakeholder-management, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills.
Experience with SAP or relevant ERP systems, e-sourcing and contract-lifecycle platforms, analytics tools, and structured project-management methods.
Track record of mentoring others, establishing scalable sourcing practices, and leading enterprise process improvements.

Responsibilities

Own and execute multi-year category strategies for critical direct materials, capital equipment, technical services, research partnerships, software, and other strategic spend portfolios.
Translate category strategies into sourcing initiatives, including market intelligence, supplier discovery, make-versus-buy analysis, RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, SOWs, proposal evaluation, award recommendations, and contracting.
Structure, draft, and negotiate complex agreements, statements of work, master agreements, long-term agreements, subcontracts, amendments, and commercial terms.
Lead contracting and subcontracting activities with government-funded research laboratories, coordinating with Legal, Contracts, Export Compliance, Finance, Security, and technical program teams.
Partner with engineers, scientists, technical program leaders, quality, manufacturing, facilities, and IT to turn complex requirements into executable sourcing and contracting strategies.
Provide commercial leadership for supplier selection and negotiations involving emerging technologies, limited-source markets, long lead times, developmental scope, intellectual property, and significant schedule or performance risk.
Develop should-cost, total-cost-of-ownership, scenario, and financial models to inform investment decisions and deliver sustainable value, working-capital improvement, and lifecycle cost reduction.
Establish supplier segmentation, governance models, performance scorecards, quarterly business reviews, and development roadmaps for key suppliers.
Identify and mitigate supply, geopolitical, cybersecurity, compliance, financial, capacity, quality, and continuity risks through alternate sourcing, contractual protections, and contingency plans.
Influence senior stakeholders and lead cross-functional decision forums, presenting recommendations, tradeoffs, risks, and outcomes to business and technical leadership.
Provide category management guidance and subject-matter expertise on strategy, portfolio planning, supplier governance, sourcing execution, contract strategy, terms, risk, negotiation, and issue resolution.
Develop playbooks, improve policies and processes, mentor category management professionals, and strengthen organizational capability in category strategy, negotiation, supplier management, and contract risk.